Page last updated

 


 

Scripture Text (NRSV)

 

Luke 17:11-19

 

17:11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

17:12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance,

17:13 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

17:14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.

17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.

17:16 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

17:17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?

17:18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

17:19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

 

Comments:


I'm new to this site, but really value the wonderful reflection and dialog I've seen over the past few weeks of reading. The version of this reading from Luke that I'm using uses 3 different words to refer to what happens to the leper(s). "as they were going they were cleansed", "one, realizing he had been healed", "10 were cleansed, were they not", and finally, "your faith has saved you." This seems significant to me in that Jesus seems to be saying "curing your ailments is easy, but to attain everlasting life is what I want you to focus on." And I see here that what happens is that the one who is compelled to come to God/ Christ in thanks giving and of his own will is the one who is saved. Jesus extends the invitation, provides us strength and encouragement to act, but ultimately we need to take steps to make it work. I think that in two weeks I will preach in the area of Gifts from God that we have and often ignore (don't use) or don't give thanks for. It is often the new comers, the outcasts, those we might call unbelievers who call our attention to these gifts and our need to give thanks to God for them. Thank you for this great forum. Tom in Cleveland


There is an interesting contrast between "duty", "obedience", "fulfilling the Torah, which is something Jews do well and for which we must respect. Indeed the Torah is the outward and visible sign of their relationship/covenant with God.

But in the Samaritan there was something else "gratitude" which comes from not expecting to be treated the same because of being an outcast, not sure of one's standing before God. The Samaritan says thanks for he is overwhelmed by the generosity of God who leaves no one out of the circle of grace.

tom in ga


A Samaritan leper becomes a model for thanksgiving. This one who was healed does not take for granted the kindness shown to him but offers thanks to Jesus and glorifies God.


Conventional wisdom says there aren't many atheists in foxholes. The same goes, no doubt, for hospital emergency rooms and any place a newly diagnosed cancer patient collects his or her thoughts. In times of danger our instincts override whatever theology we may not affirm, and we hurl toward heaven a plea for mercy.

When disease threatens, we pray for healing, but we really want cure. Sometimes we get cure, sometimes not, no matter how fervent our prayers. The patient petitioner always receives healing, however. Even if disease wins and death comes earlier than we'd like, turning one's case over to God means we do not die alone, our humanity crushed. Whether we live in God's care, or die in God's embrace, we have healing and wholeness.

Ten desperate lepers once begged Jesus for mercy. All ten received cure. As far as we know, only one found healing. Not only his disintegrating skin changed, his heart filled with thanks, and he couldn't help but return to express his praise and gratitude as directly as he'd once launched cries for help.

A heart full of thanks is a sign of wholeness. It appears often on a deathbed where cure has never arrived. The teacher says also to that one, "Go on your way; your faith has made you whole."

For Christians, the secret of this healing story, and all others as well, lies in the paths crossed out there in the desolate region where lepers lived out their days. Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem. There he would show himself to the priests, who would judge him unclean, far from whole. He would pray for God's aid, but he would die broken. Yet, "by his bruises we are healed" (Isa 53.5).

First, though, Jesus sends these ten to Jerusalem and the priests. If the nine found healing, they got it as Jesus and the Samaritan did—with arms outstretched in the ancient posture that fits both crucifixion and thanksgiving.

Frederick Niedner


As in the story of the Good Samaritan, found exclusively in Luke, this story features a Samaritan. Samaritans were Jews who centred their faith in Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem. Samaritans were not accepted as "real" Jews by the Jerusalem believers. In one sense, Samaritans were part of Judaism in that they revered holy scripture. In another sense, however, they were outside of Judaism when it is defined as the community of allegiance to Jerusalem and its authorities. In the case of the man who was robbed and left by the side of the road, the Samaritan is the only passerby out of several who extends mercy to the hurt man. The others, who are officials in the temple, hurry past to their important duties. In this story, only the Samaritan returns to Jesus to give thanks for the healing. The others go on to the temple to follow the ritual of being certified as clean by the priests, which was necessary for them to be accepted into the life of the community (Lev 14.23). The temple was not the centre of worship or community for the Samaritan, and so he does not go there. He does respond faithfully to what has happened to him, however. He returns to Jesus to give thanks and Jesus affirms his faithfulness.

A subtle but important detail in the way this passage from Luke is translated in the New International Version is the reference to "ten men who had leprosy" instead of the "lepers." In this gospel that emphasizes seeing or recognizing, this translation asks the reader to recognize the full humanity of all people, even (or perhaps especially) those on the margins. Luke invites us to see as God sees: with mercy for all.


Now here is a strange story. What do we have? 10 Lepers! How may return to Jesus to give thanks? 1 healed Samaritan! Now there is a tithe.

Though we are not faced with possessions, money, or mammon, we have here the heart of the one whose life has been transformed by Christ and who offers, the freeist gift of all: Gratitude.

I am not sure how this will preach but it is facinating.

tom in ga


physical health does not always mean wellness. the other nine were made physically well, jesus gave them what they asked.

today the disciples asked for more faith, now these lepers are asking for mercy. jesus reprimands the apostles telling them they already have enough faith. this week jesus hears a cry for mercy and answers it.

could it be that jesus determines our real needs?

i've been preaching stewardship and giving these last weeks.

i see a pattern occuring as jesus makes his way to jerusalem:

be shrewed... be generous... do your work... be thankful... be persistant in prayer... be honest in prayer...

what is jesus trying to tell us as he makes his way to the cross?

on his way to death, is he giving us the way to live?

God's peace, christine at the shore


Location! Location! Location!

We are on our way to Jerusalem. And here we are in some "no man's land"! The land between. The in between place. Where "human trash" lives as a colony of lepers.

This is the place Jesus comes! And turns lepers into humans complete with restored ethnic identities: no longer "leper x" but "a Samaritan"!

Glory!


What a great text for a message of THANKFULNESS!

Maybe my points will be...( v.1) Anticipation!!! of Thanksgiving...(2) v.14 Process!!! of Thanksgiving. ...(3) V.15 Humility!!! of Thanksgiving... ((-or perhaps, Barriers to Thanksgiving...)) (4) v.19 Blessing!!! of Thanksgiving...

....Galveston Teacher


Galveston Teacher, I think we are neighbors.

So glad i have jumped on reading the post early as I am preaching for the next few Sundays and really must get back in the sermon preparing mode. What a great text for the congregation I am preaching at. A church hurting and we get to hear about healing and I get to preach about gratitude in the midst of adversity. I have learned this through our experience. It is much easier to face life with a thankful heart!!!!! Just beginning Tammy in Texas


ss in PA -

an idea you might adapt is one i got from a friend for last week's world communion. encourage people to take their shoes off and just be there at worship with no shoes ... 1/3 of the world does not hve shoes (something like that). We take our shoes for granted; removing them, in their absence, reminded us of their usual presence. I introduced it with the children's sermon and then the children and i took our shoes off and invited everyone else to do the same. I preached, did the offering, holy communion, the benediction ... everything else in the service - shoeless! Shoes are just one thing we really take for granted.

Health is another = as in the healing of the lepers.

Sally


I'm preaching this week also. Several reflections

What about Jesus response to the leper with gratitude. Does this give us a picture the Divne's response to gratitude, and a view of how we should respond?

What experience of the samaritan leper could have lead him to return with gratitude?

By speculating on the 9 other leper's need to follow procedures (keeping distance If possibly healed, show themselves to the priest.), does this give a window to us of the things that can keep us from gratitude for the blessings from God?

If leprosy then was not the Hansen disease we know today, but anything that was a possible contamination for the rest of society, what are today's societal's contaminations i.e., terrorist acts, gang activities, Bi-polar and other mental states?

Shalom

bammamma